Monique Wittig, the small, dark-eyed Joan of Arc of the lesbian community, perched on her chair, and in a voice which gradually lost its defensive tone, said, “I could not bear to write anything obscene about a woman's body. Until now men have held the monopoly in describing a woman's body. But their vocabulary is tainted by their attitudes. I felt it was time for women to start writing about their own bodies. In Le Corps Lesbien I tried to use a fresh and untainted vocabulary.”